


Aesthetic Appreciation

by Fandom_Trash98



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-05-05 20:58:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14626908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash98/pseuds/Fandom_Trash98
Summary: Wherein Weiss and Blake realise their leader isn't a child anymore.Inspired bythis artbys-assy-girlon tumblr.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just something fun I threw together to try to kickstart my writing again! Enjoy!

“Come on, Rubbles. Let’s go.”

Weiss Schnee watched as her teammate, Yang Xiao Long, slung an arm around her partner and team leader, Ruby Rose. Something was… off. Ruby was different. Or at least it felt that way to Weiss. As the sisters conversed with one another, bickering about their plans, Weiss slid over to her final teammate, Blake Belladonna, who was nestled back on her bed, deep within her pillows, though on top of her duvet, book clutched in her hands. When Weiss sat down casually at the edge of the bed next to her, Blake glanced up from the book, a question on her face in the form of a slightly raised eyebrow. Keeping her voice low, Weiss voiced her concerns.

“Blake… Does something about Ruby seem, uh, _different_ to you?”

Blake blinked, not expecting the question, and subtly glanced towards her leader, book still covering half her face. The cat faunus inspected the younger girl, not seeing the issue nor noticing when Weiss joined in the inspection. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Blake was about to inform Weiss as much when Ruby ran a hand through her fringe, pushing some of the hair from her face while she spoke to Yang, and Blake felt her mouth go dry. A quick glance in Weiss’ direction informed her that the heiress had too noticed the movement and appeared to react in a similar manner, her throat moving slightly with her audible gulp. The heiress turned back to the faunus and their eyes met, just as Yang and Ruby bid them an exuberant goodbye. When the door slammed shut, Weiss breathed out a quiet “oh” and the two sat in silence for a moment, processing that event. Blake cleared her throat.

“Well… she _is_ eighteen now. It’s… It’s to be expected that she, uh, grows to match her age. We, uh, we probably also look different to when we first started…”

She trailed off as Weiss nodded absently, swallowing once more. The two sat in silence once more for a moment until Weiss spoke up.

“So… Ruby is… _hot_. That’s fine. She’s an adult now and has grown into a beautiful young woman. This is fine. Everything is fine, and we are simply appreciating the fact that this has happened.”

“Right.” Blake nodded along rapidly, “We just have an appreciation for what puberty has done for our _friend_. There’s nothing more to it, just aesthetic appreciation that’s all.” 

“I’ll tell you something, Blake.”

Weiss moved to stand, walking halfway across the room towards her own bed, before stopping in the centre of the room, turning back and looking at her friend.

“Puberty hit our leader like a truck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy! So I'm in a massive writing slump at the moment, and there's a lot going on in my life, so apologies to those expecting a new chapter of Beacon Academy or After Effects. I'm trying to get going with them again, but I've really not wanted to write them recently. So hopefully if I can get a few little one-shots like this out I can kickstart my writing mojo and produce a chapter soon! Thank you all for being patient with me!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The competition begins.

The competition started without either realising it. 

It was subtle. Blake suddenly wanted to accompany Ruby on more outings and Weiss was suddenly kinder, not that she was unkind before, but there was a certain softness present that Ruby didn’t recognise. She loved it though, and spending time with Blake was wonderful; Ruby was always concerned that she didn’t do enough to connect with her sister’s partner. They had a great many things in common, perhaps not all that surprisingly. Sure, Ruby had long since grown out of that childish, black-and-white view of the world and its workings, but that didn’t mean she had stopped wanting to protect the little people. Blake was much the same. Sure, the faunus was focused on bringing equality to her kind, not just on saving people, but the motivation was the same and Ruby adored their long conversations about rights, and equality, and equity, what it all meant and what it was for. She was filled with joy at finally relating on a deep level with the one teammate that always seemed just out of her reach. Also, their shared love of books didn’t hurt their relationship either.

The still-young leader couldn’t help but feel accomplished. She’d grown up with Yang, so they were already close and loved each other wholly, the best of sisters and family and friends. Then there was Weiss. Weiss who resisted so hard in the beginning and was now her best friend (no matter how much she may protest). Finally bonding with Blake, while sudden, felt wonderful. She finally felt confident as a leader. Ruby had no idea what change occurred that had Blake tearing down the walls she had been chipping at for years, but she was thrilled and refused to ruin it with questions. With a sigh, she pulled her mind from the spiral of analysing her team and their bonds, refocusing on the library books in front of her. She had a goliath assignment for her leadership class, and she also needed to remember to get those dust theory books for Yang. Ruby stifled a giggle as she recalled Weiss’ face when Yang announced that she would be taking the class with her this year, citing “bonding time with the Ice Queen” as her reason. Oum, she loved her team. 

The books were heavy under her arm as she trudged back to her room, idly wondering if she should skip dinner this evening in favour of her assignment. A voice in her head, that sounded not-at-all like Weiss, began to lecture her about leaving assignments until last minute, and she decided to skip the food as she argued back that she still had a few days left, it wasn’t as if she’d left it until the night before like _last_ time. Man, Beacon was actually going to make her crazy.

* * *

Weiss had just placed a cup of coffee on the desk next to Ruby, who was diligently studying away, when she sensed eyes on her back. Turning towards the feeling, she just about caught Blake ducking her head back behind the book that Weiss had assumed she was reading. Apparently, her assumption was incorrect. Raising an eyebrow, the heiress simply stood in wait and sure enough, a moment later, Blake lowered her book slightly and made eye contact once more. Clearing her throat slightly, Weiss spoke.

“Blake, would you accompany me to the library. There’s a book I think you’ll enjoy, but I wasn’t completely sure, so I didn’t take it out.”

Her voice was measured and even, yet her expression brooked no argument, so with a muttered “sure”, Blake placed her book down on her bed and stood to meet the heiress. They bid Ruby goodbye, smiling slightly at how she barely looked up from her work at their leave. Both were incredibly proud of how far their leader had come since their first year at Beacon. The walk to the library was silent, both women wondering how this conversation was going to go. Just before the library doors, Weiss turned and entered one of Beacon’s courtyards instead, and Blake followed silently, already aware that they were never going to enter the library. After reaching a relatively secluded spot, Weiss turned to Blake and arched her eyebrow once more.

“So.” Weiss began.

“So.” Blake echoed back. Rolling her eyes and sighing, Weiss tried again.

“Do you want to tell me what you were staring at back there? And what you’ve been staring at for the past few days? Don’t think I haven’t noticed.” Weiss folded her arms and Blake mirrored the action.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Weiss.”

“Oh, please. I’m not blind, nor am I stupid, Blake. I have noticed the pattern, I was simply giving you the chance to own up to it, but I don’t have the patience Yang has for these sorts of games. The common factor in all of these occurrences has been my interactions with Ruby. So. Do you want to explain why you keep staring, or am I to come up with my own conclusions?”

Blake shifted on her feet slightly, uncomfortable with Weiss’ intense stare, before rolling her eyes and dropping her arms with a sigh. 

“I didn’t mean to stare, I just noticed you’d been paying more attention to Ruby recently, that’s all.”

A blush rose in Weiss’ cheeks and neck, unbidden, as she stuttered over a response.

“W-well, she is my partner! I realised recently that I haven’t been paying her enough attention. I promised to be the best partner and I-I was- I’d been slacking recently and was trying to make up for it!” Blake raised a solitary eyebrow and smirked, folding her arms once more. “Don’t look at me like that! And what about you anyway? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you discussing the world and _hanging out_ with her more than ever recently. You don’t hang out, Blake, so what excuse do you have, hm?”

The faunus blushed but, unlike the heiress, didn’t fumble. “I just realised I hadn’t paid her enough attention. Yang is my partner and we usually end up spending a lot of time together. You and I have Tea Tuesdays. I realised I didn’t really have anything with Ruby, and she’s my leader, so I figured I should have a better relationship with her.” The two stared at each other for a while longer, both analysing the other, before Weiss sighed.

“We’re really doing this, huh?”

Blake shrugged. “Looks like it.”

Weiss simply nodded and turned to leave. “Come on, we should get Ruby something from the cafeteria, she wasn’t at dinner and was studying right from when I got back from my dust class, so I’m assuming she hasn’t eaten.”

“She hasn’t,” Blake agreed, “I was going to suggest we get her something on the way back anyway.”

Weiss shot her a glare over her shoulder. The competition was officially afoot.

* * *

Wandering around the Beacon grounds, Sun and Neptune were taking in the sights. Team SSSN had recently graduated from Haven Academy and had temporarily parted ways. Sage and Scarlett had taken a job in Vacuo and Sun and Neptune had taken a job in Vale, allowing them to drop in on their friends at Beacon. Neptune was in the middle of saying something about hanging out with Jaune later, when Sun spotted Weiss and Blake. Nudging Neptune and signalling him to be quiet, the pair snuck over, Sun planning to jump out and startle the women. Both stopped to listen however, as the two spoke.

“We’re really doing this, huh?”

“Looks like it.”

Sun was so busy trying to figure out what they were talking about that he missed his opportunity and instead they walked away. He turned to his long-time partner and best friend, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Wonder what that was about?”

“I don’t know, but it looked kinda serious, maybe? Maybe they’re arguing about something?” Neptune was just as confused as Sun it seemed, so the faunus did the only logical thing. Finding the contact ‘Second Hottest Blonde’ in his scroll, he dialled and waited.

“What’s _Guenon_ , Sun?” A playful voice laughed down the line.

“Ha ha Yang, very funny. How long have you been waiting to use that one?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Sun. Surili you’re going bananas!”

Sun groaned. He could literally _hear_ the smug grin she was wearing right now. She laughed once more.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop now. So, what’s up? Usually you don’t call me. In the bad books with the kitty cat?”

“No, no nothing like that. I was just wondering about her and Weiss actually. We’re in the Beacon courtyard and I-”

“Woah what! You’re at Beacon!?” He couldn’t help but smile a little at the clear enthusiasm, but he cleared his throat. Remember your mission, Sun.

“I am, but later. First, I just saw Blake and Weiss and it looked like they were fighting over something? I was just wondering if everything was okay?” To Sun’s surprise, Yang started laughing. Not lightly, either. A full blown, doubled over belly laugh.

“Oh yeah! I have something funny to tell you! So basically, I noticed this a week or so ago, I think they’ve both realised that my beautiful baby sister isn’t much of a baby anymore. Last week, I caught Blake staring at Ruby while she was training with Weiss, and speaking of that, you should come and watch Ruby and Weiss train because it is hilarious! Weiss can’t stop staring! I’m thinking of giving Ruby one of my old training kits just to see their reactions!”

Sun’s mind was reeling, while Yang cackled in the background. At his side, Neptune was miming “so, what is it?” to him. He snapped out of it.

“Wait, you’re okay with that? She’s your baby sister?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s a big girl now, she can handle herself. I think she’s enjoying it anyway, even if she doesn’t realise what’s actually happening. It’s way too funny for me to interject, though I am slightly offended that Blake isn’t into me as well, I mean I’m gorgeous!”

Sun nodded absently at that, while his mind worked. He bid a quick goodbye to Yang, with the promise of ‘swinging’ by later, groaning moments later when the pun registered. As Neptune needled him for answers, a small smirk grew on his face. Yang was right, this would be hilarious. And his, ah, _assistance_ would only make it funnier. He turned to Neptune, who was rightfully scared by the almost manic grin he was sporting, and spoke.

“Visiting Beacon again was the best idea we’ve had yet.” Neptune chuckled, nervously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am peaking my head around the metaphorical corner right now. I know this is late and probably shorter than you would like, but I would like to thank you all for your patience and support of this fic. Life stuff happened, but now I'm back. More to come in the near future. I also might come back to this chapter and re-write some of it, because there are areas I think I could add to and edit better, but I honestly just wanted to get this chapter out to you folks. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Please leave kudos/comments because I am a robot and they are my fuel source.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby switches up training day by partnering with Blake. Weiss is unimpressed.

“Okay, team! I am hereby invoking my power as leader to decide upon today’s training schedule!”

Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes. “Do you really have to say that _every_ Saturday, Ruby? We _know_ you’re going to plan the schedule, because you _always_ plan the schedule. Announcing it is redundant.”

Ruby’s smile morphed into a smirk more commonly seen on Yang at that, and Weiss paled.

“Well, thank you for making my life a little bit easier, Princess. It’s a good thing you’re in such a helpful mood today, because you’ll be training with my dearest sister Yang and I will be training with our resident bookworm Blake.”

“What?” echoed from three different parts of the room, each voice tinged with different levels of disbelief and dread. Yang spoke up first.

“Ruby are you really gonna stick me with the Ice Queen while she’s in a bad mood? You won’t have a sister _or_ a partner left by the end of the day!”

Weiss let out an offended ‘hey!’ at the insult but couldn’t deny that putting her and Yang together today would likely result in disaster. 

“Ruby, surely we should have partner training today? We have combat tests in three weeks’ time, and we’re supposed to be with our partners for that.”

“Well, that’s true, but we also have individual combat tests _next_ week, and we could be against each other in those. Besides, we could also be against Blake and Yang in the partner combat tests, so _you_ need to learn how to fight Yang, because no offense but she crushes you nearly every time you spar, and I haven’t fought Blake as much as you have so I need to train with her more to learn her quirks just in case.”

“But we- ”

“To be honest, you just need to get better at combat with fighters like Yang in general. Your fighting style is smooth and elegant and I think it’s beautiful, but when you’re against heavy hitters you’re still not brilliant at adjusting for that. You’re used to fighting me, and you’re naturally good at fighting opponents like Blake.”

Fighting down the blush that appeared when Ruby called her style beautiful and elegant, Weiss opened her mouth to protest again. Before she could speak, however, Ruby raised her hands out to call for silence. 

“Look, it’s been a while since we switched up like this. We need to know each other’s fighting styles intimately, so today I’m with Blake and you two will just have to get along for once. Besides, me and Blake are heading to Vale this afternoon anyway, so it makes sense that way too. I have spoken! Listen to your leader!”

With that, Ruby disappeared into the bathroom in a flurry of rose petals, Weiss and Yang let out a simultaneous sigh, and Blake turned to her bed to hide her growing smile.

* * *

Training with Ruby was going to kill Blake.

Ducking out of the way of a sweeping strike, Blake dashed forward in an attempt to shake Ruby’s balance, but the younger woman simply flipped off of Blake’s back, landing in a crouch facing the faunus with her weapon aimed. Damn speedy, bendy, sneaky, sexy- no. No. Stop that. Blake shook her head slightly, trying to rid her mind of the very clear image she had of Ruby’s body twisting to land. Flexibility like that would be perfect for some of the things in Ninja’s of Love… 

Suddenly, Blake was on her back on the mats, staring up the shaft of Crescent Rose into Ruby’s smug, but slightly concerned face. Even with sweat running down her face in rivers, Ruby was still stupidly hot. Blake’s face flushed at the thought and she growled, twisting her body and forcing Ruby back. She crouched into a fighting stance once more, ready to strike, when Ruby relaxed and cocked her head at Blake.

“Hey, Blake are you okay? Your fighting seems a little bit off today.”

“I’m fine, I just forgot how to fight you and it’s irritating me.” The lie rolled easily off her tongue and Blake comforted herself with the fact that it wasn’t exactly a complete lie; it had been a while since she’d fought Ruby, so she _was_ a little rusty. Ruby swallowed the lie easily, nodding and shouldering Crescent Rose. 

“Well, my primary strengths are speed, endurance, and utilising my momentum effectively. With Yang, the best thing to do is stay defensive until she gets tired, because you don’t want to activate her semblance and she still doesn’t have half as much endurance as other fighters. You were kind of fighting me like you would fight Yang and that’s okay, but it’s not going to work here. I’ve trained with Crescent Rose for years, so I have a lot of muscular endurance, because my baby is heavy, and once my semblance was discovered, my Uncle had me train my stamina. You’ll almost always get tired before I do, fighting like that.”

Blake nodded, quietly impressed with how insightful her leader is.

“The best way to beat a fighter like me is probably to ruin any chance of me gaining momentum. You most likely wouldn’t tire me out, and you’re not faster than me, so given your fighting style it would be best to cut me off before I can get started. If I’m about to swing Crescent offensively, try to attack to force me to have to redirect. Making me switch to defence when I’m about to attack will half my momentum and force me to take longer to build it back up enough to ‘dance with my weapon’ as Yang likes to say. Come on, let’s try it!”

Ruby dropped into her fighting stance, forcing Blake to follow suit. They were pacing around each other as Blake processed what she had just learnt, when suddenly, Ruby began to swing her scythe, activating her semblance slightly. Blake lunged towards the strike, Gambol Shroud extended fully, aiming for Ruby’s underarm. Ruby, jolted backwards, redirecting Crescent Rose to block an attack that never came, as Blake turned into a downward strike aimed for Ruby’s other shoulder. Ruby blocked once more and the two became engrossed in an intricate dance, swapping strikes and dancing around each other, until Blake feinted left and then struck hard in the centre of Ruby’s chest, forcing the leader to the ground. Before Blake could ask if she was okay, Ruby bolted up with a beaming smile stretching her face.

“You did it! You got me!”

Blake let out a chuckle, smiling at her friend, and then glanced at the clock. 12:35. 

“Hey, Ruby, do you want to go get ready to head into Vale?”

Ruby glimpsed the clock herself and nodded her agreement, taking the hand offered to her and high fiving Blake once she was stood. Blake had to admit that it felt great to see how happy Ruby was for her success, even if that success was at her own expense in this instance. Regardless of what happened in the future, Blake was very glad she could call Ruby a friend.

* * *

“Weiss, can you stop pouting? I know I’m not Ruby, but it’s kinda _cold_ to be this upset about sparring with me. We can still have a good time!”

Weiss continued to pout, not even acknowledging the atrocious pun made at her expense. It was unbecoming of a Schnee to pout, but she couldn’t help it. Besides, Ruby had taught her that she shouldn’t give a damn what _anyone_ thought was unbecoming, because she was Weiss and she could be nothing more or less than what she wanted to be. Ruby, her sweet, smart, goofy, beautiful partner, who was going to be spending the entire day with Blake. Her pout deepened. Usually she wouldn’t have minded, but today she was armed with the knowledge that, if given the opportunity, Blake would gladly jump her partner’s bones. The thought made her shudder slightly. Not to mention, they were going to spend the _whole day_ together! Blake would be spending the _entire day_ with Ruby and Weiss couldn’t do anything about that. It would be rude to try to inject herself into their plans. Shockingly, Weiss’ pout managed to get even deeper as she thought about this. If she was honest with herself she would probably acknowledge that she was also upset she wouldn’t get to see Ruby in her sparring outfit. Of course, she wasn’t honest with herself and disregarded that thought immediately.

A hand waved in her face, jolting her from her thoughts. “Yang, what-”

“I’m not gonna spar with you if you don’t stop being so mopey. Ruby’s right, you get caught out when you fight people like me. I can help you learn how to beat me, or I can go back to the room and let _you_ tell Ruby that we couldn’t spar, because you were too busy being jealous of Blake.”

At this, Weiss turned crimson, stuttering out an affronted “I’m not jealous!”. Yang scoffed. 

“Please. You’re so jealous. What’s the problem? Sad that Blake gets to spend the day with your crush or sad she gets to see her in her training outfit and you don’t?”

It was a miracle Weiss didn’t faint right there, as she was sure that all the blood in her body had just moved to her face and neck.

“I-I don’t have a crush on Ruby! How preposterous! That’s complete nonsense! And why would I care about her t-training outfit? You’re ridiculous!”

Yang smirked, and Weiss audibly gulped. This wasn’t going to go well for her.

“Weiss. You know how sometimes I come watch you and Ruby’s sparring sessions?” A mute nod. “Well, Weissy Icy Icicle, I noticed a few things recently about your ‘technique’. I don’t know who told you that checking out your opponent’s ass would help you win, but they lied.” Weiss paled.

“I-I haven’t- You- What I mean to say is-”

“What you mean to say is you either have a crush on Ruby, or-” Yang’s eyes flashed red, “you’re a pervert that I’m going to have to, ah, _protect_ my sister from.”

They held stares for a moment, Weiss pale and gaping, while Yang bore down with a cruel smirk and her fierce crimson gaze, until Yang’s eyes returned to their natural purple and she started laughing, swinging an arm around Weiss’ shoulders.

“You scare so easily, I almost feel bad!” They reached the sparring room Ruby had booked for them, Yang still chortling and Weiss wearing an embarrassed scowl. After entering the room and getting into stance, Yang held out her hand for a second.

“Just so you know, it’s okay if you have a crush on Ruby. I won’t tell anyone.”

Before Weiss could respond, the blonde lunged forward and forced her onto the defensive.

* * *

“Come on, Blake!”

Ruby wasn’t kidding, she had stamina. The two had just touched down at Vale Central Airport and already Ruby was trying to zip around from place to place. No matter how old she got, some things about Ruby would never change. This is not to say that Blake was unenthused, but they had just trained for about three hours and she was a little reluctant to start exercising again unnecessarily. Ruby jogged back over to her, mouth open to speak, but Blake cut her off with a smirk.

“What’s the matter? Want to end our time together already?”

Ruby flushed bright red and puffed out her cheeks in response.

“No! You know I like spending time with you, but you’re walking so _slow_. I’ll be thirty before we get anywhere at your pace!”

Lunging forward, the excitable woman grabbed Blake’s hand and started dragging her through the crowds, ignoring the faunus’ protests. Once outside the airport, they slowed to a walk and Ruby turned to Blake.

“So, I had a couple ideas for what we could do today. The first thing is actually a surprise! I found this place that I think you’ll really like! It’s kind of time sensitive, but I’m sure we can work something out. So, we can go there first if you want, or we can go to that bookshop you mentioned before and look around there?”

Blake thought about it for a moment, blushing lightly at the idea that Ruby had a surprise for her and at the fact that she was still holding her hand. The bookshop would be open for quite a while longer and now that Ruby had mentioned a surprise, Blake was sure that she wouldn’t be able to think of much else until she knew what it was. 

“I’m intrigued by your surprise, so we can do that first. Besides, if it’s time sensitive, then I don’t want you to have to go through the trouble of rearranging something.”

Ruby let out a squeal and with a large grin began leading Blake further into the city. Her friend had very warm, surprisingly smooth hands. Briefly, Blake wondered if that was just her skin or if Weiss or Yang had taught her some skincare techniques. She was sure that handling Crescent Rose would at least create callouses if nothing else. Oh well, there are more important things to think about right now.

* * *

**Second Hottest Blonde** : Hey dude, Blake and Ruby are heading into Vale. Have fun.

* * *

Honestly, Blake could just kiss Ruby right now. There they stood, Blake gaping and Ruby beaming, outside of the newly opened, faunus run sushi place that Blake had wanted to visit since she’d heard about it. She had called the restaurant a week or so ago to try to book a reservation, but they had such a long waiting list that she gave up. Turning to Ruby, she managed a stunned ‘how?’ before the woman began to explain, giggling all the while.

“Well~ I heard you talking about this place with Yang a few weeks ago, so I called them up to see about getting a reservation. I maybe let slip that we are huntresses in training and that you’re super happy to see faunuses being successful because it means the work you’re doing is paying off. After I mentioned that they told me to give them a date and they’d work something out! So I did! I told them today between twelve and three, so it worked out really nicely actually!”

Ruby’s smile was infectious and Blake could help but mirror it. She smirked slightly as an opportunity to tease her friend came to mind.

“While I really appreciate this, don’t you think using our status as huntresses in training was a bit underhanded?”

Humour coloured her tone, but Ruby smirked back, unfazed. 

“Well, if you’re having a moral dilemma we can always cancel the reservation. I don’t mind.”

The two held eye contact for a moment more, before Blake rolled her eyes and started walking towards the restaurant, ignoring the smug, triumphant look on Ruby’s face. As they entered the restaurant, an otter faunus greeted them at the door.

“Good day, missus’. Do you have a reservation?”

“Yep! It should be under Rose and Belladonna?”

The faunus’ eyes widened and a small smile bloomed on his face.

“Of course! Please come with me!”

The two were taken to a table near a window, that overlooked a beautiful garden. Candles surrounded the area causing a warm, low lighting. Blake blushed as she processed just how _romantic_ the setting was, shooting glances over to Ruby who was seemingly unaware. The maître d’hotel excused himself as they sat down. Ruby spoke first.

“This place sure is pretty, don’t you think? I mean look at that garden! This is almost as fancy as the place Weiss took me to last week! I’m glad I could get a reservation here.”

Blake just nodded silently. It seemed that Ruby really didn’t realise how this looked. A blush was steadily creeping up her face, she could feel it, and she tried to think of something else, something innocent. The maître d’hotel returned. Behind him was, who Blake could only assume to be, the owner of the restaurant, a young female bear faunus. 

“Miss Rose! Welcome! And you must be Miss Belladonna! An honour! I took the liberty of arranging one of our most private tables for you both. Only the best for not only hunters, but the Chiefling herself! Crimson will be your waiter for the evening, he is our most experienced member of staff, and please allow me to provide you both with a complementary bottle of Rosé for your date tonight!”

Before Blake could protest, Ruby thanked the woman, who promptly departed, and moved to sit. At Ruby’s expectant stare, Blake sat down and glared across the table at her leader. After Crimson presented them with menus and took his leave, she leaned towards Ruby slightly and whispered harshly.

“You didn’t tell me you’d used my name to get the reservation Ruby! Why would you do that? We’re not even in Menagerie, this isn’t right!” then as an afterthought, “Also, we’re not even on a date.”

Stunned, Ruby held her hands up defensively.

“Woah, I didn’t ‘use your name’ to get the reservation! I told them that I wanted a reservation for Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna and then told them we were huntresses at the school! I never mentioned anything about you being Chiefling! The person on the phone probably just recognised your name, that would explain why it wasn’t that difficult to get the reservation in the first place… Oh, and I never said it was a date either, I think they just assumed ‘cause it was the two of us alone that it would be, but does it matter? We’re getting free wine and a nice seat and we’re helping a new faunus business and getting to enjoy ourselves!”

Blake held her tense gaze for a moment, before sighing and letting her body relax.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you, you did something really nice for me. Even if you hadn’t mentioned my name, I might have been recognised anyway.”

She felt terrible. Why did she have to be so difficult all the time? Ruby went out of her way to do this for her and she repays her by yelling at her? What sort of friend does that? Ruby’s hand suddenly appeared on top of her own, startling Blake and causing her to look up into compassionate eyes.

“Relax Blake, I can see you spiralling. You apologised, there’s no harm done. Let’s just enjoy a nice meal, yeah? They apparently have a really nice tuna roll that I think you’ll love!”

With a smile and a nod, the two perused the menu and chatted idly.

* * *

Sun sat in a tree overlooking the restaurant’s garden, watching his two friends laugh and enjoy themselves over a meal. Snapping a few pictures, a wicked idea formed in his mind. Why not have a little fun? He started a group chat with himself, Yang and Weiss, and sent a selection of the best photographs.

_Sun Wukong has changed his name to Hottest Blonde._

_Hottest Blonde has changed Yang Xiao Long’s name to Second Hottest Blonde._

_Hottest Blonde has changed Weiss Schnee’s name to Ice Queen._

**Hottest Blonde** : Guys! Ruby n Blake r on a date! Luk how cute thy r!

 **Ice Queen** : They’re not on a date, they’re just hanging out.

 **Second Hottest Blonde** : Jealous much???? Thyr totes on a date!

_Second Hottest Blonde has changed her name to Ultimate Hottest Blonde._

**Ice Queen** : Whatever.

_Ice Queen has left the chat._

**Hottest Blonde** : Awe :( tht ws shrt livd

 **Ultimate Hottest Blonde** : Dude what dyou have against vowels????

 **Hottest Blonde** :Whatevs, imma go bck to spying on the kids

* * *

Dinner with Blake had been wonderful. They had talked so much and Ruby really felt she had connected better with her quietest teammate, which was good! Unfortunately, the romantic setting seemed to be throwing her off some as she would periodically blush and become flustered. Ruby was sure it was the setting as once they got to the bookshop, Blake began acting normally again. It was kind of cute watching her get lost in the shelves, and the lively look she wore whenever a book particularly intrigued her was absolutely adorable. They had gotten a few new books that they had decided to read together, at Blake’s suggestion. She was really glad! Ruby wanted nothing more than to connect with Blake and it seemed Blake wanted the same thing. Maybe Ruby would be able to get the two of them to make a habit of eating out? She made a mental note to ask Blake later when she wasn’t reading.

Strangely, when they returned to Beacon, Weiss was acting strange. She would level both Blake and Ruby with glares, and Yang would just laugh whenever she saw this causing Weiss to glare harder. Even Blake seemed smug about something and would match each glare with a smirk. Had she missed something? She wanted in on the joke! She was team leader! However, Ruby knew from the past few years that if she outright asked they wouldn’t tell her, so this would require some snooping. Maybe it was just Weiss being crabby about the training plan from the day? No matter, Ruby was great at balancing her friends and their needs! Tomorrow she will plan something fun with just Weiss, that way the heiress could relax some. It was really cute how much Weiss needed friends to reassure her, given how prickly she had been at the beginning. Ruby remembered Jacques and the reasons Weiss had been the way she was in first year and frowned; yeah, definitely going to do something for Weiss soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. HAVE. INTERNET! 
> 
> Hello hello folks! I am back with internet! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I tried a new thing with the text system, so let me know if you'd like to see that again or if you hated it, I won't be offended. 
> 
> Next chapter will be predominantly whiterose and will be out in about two weeks because I'm working alongside my studies this year (otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford to live in my current accommodation) which eats my time up. So just to be clear, I'll be working on an update approx. once every two weeks for this fic. 
> 
> This is my longest chapter yet! I'm going to try to aim for a similar length each time in the future. Also I realised that I don't have as many mini plots planned as I thought, so if you guys have any sort of scenario you want to see tell me and I may put it in (no promises, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take and whatnot).
> 
> If you spotted a mistake, tell me. I'm dyslexic and I proof read everything myself so I am liable to miss things. If you enjoyed, leave comments and kudos! That's all I can think of for right now though, so later!
> 
> @fandom-trash98 on tumblr for updates and sneak peeks
> 
> Edit: corrected maitre d' to maitre d'hotel


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